No surprise! We are now seeing political leaders attempt to lay the blame for economic woes at the feet of foreigners. At the forefront is the bumptious leader of the world’s largest free-market economy (that is now in tatters). Rightly or wrongly, he sees China as the culprit, suggesting a germ warfare scenario. And the Chinese bureaucracy is hitting back. Meantime, in contrast, we are told by the World Health Organization that the virus likely started in bats, then transferred to another live animal, which then passed the virus on to humans. When , where and Why? These are still open questions as far as the scientific community is concerned. In France, scientists appear to have detected the novel coronavirus was present there at about the same time it was discovered in China. More facts may change convenient current assumptions.

Why is the developing argumentation no surprise? You and I have the answer. “They” are just like “Us”! Which one of us can say we have never blamed someone or something else for problems for which we ourselves may even have been primarily responsible. Geo-political posturing starts right here; this is where the germ resides. It is perhaps also evidenced by the willingness of so many to line up behind their chosen leader’s statements, whether in the USA or Russia or China, etc. It is scary, but it should not be unexpected. The cause of feuds is to be found in the Bible’s statements in Gal.5:19,20. We are all like that, naturally. Is it hopeless, then?

Spiritually, the picture can change. We can look for reliable information. We can place current events in a much longer term context. We can identify endemic problems that have plagued mankind since Eden. In short, we can read our Bible, and accept what is read by faith. Faith, of course, must be placed in facts. God is not a convenient entity merely invented to fill gaps in information, nor a crutch to help us to accept unwelcome circumstances. The Bible is God’s message to His creation, and is self-confirming, by documenting outcomes it predicted (and which are shown to be true by both historians and our own personal experience). The most important outcome the Bible predicts is that a person believing Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who came to earth to live a perfect life and then to die as our substitute, will be forgiven by God and be given eternal life. As icing on that cake, the Bible also predicted God, as the Holy Spirit, would then live in us, and teach us truth we need to know. This is the source of hope.

In contrast to the “he did it; she did it” that might typify our natural response when problems arrive, the Bible presents a remarkable alternative. Here it is: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil.2:3,4) and it challenges us: “…with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?” (Matt.7:2-4). Let us be very careful before engaging in the blame game. Go for the “same aim” instead, just like the Bible says in 1 Cor.1:9,10.